toyota says it's reached a more than $1 billion settlement in a case involving unintended acceleration problems in its vehicles. it's one of the largest settlements involving automobile defects in u.s. history. >>> supreme court justice sonia sotomayor has denied two retailers' requests to block part of the federal health care law that requires insurance coverage for contraceptives as of january 1st. the companies, which say the law violates their religious beliefs, face a $1.3 million daily fine if they don't comply. >>> 94-year-old former south african president nelson mandela has been released from a johannesburg hospital after nearly three weeks of being treated for a lung infection and surgery to remove gall stones. >>> "the new york times" is reporting that a syrian military police chief who defected to turkey yesterday was actually in charge of preventing military defections. major general abdul aziz jasim al shalal is one of the highest ranking military officers to abandon bashar al assad. >>> in china, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. an office building tumbled into